A GRANDMOTHER was left fighting for her life after slipping from the top step of a tourist bus while taking a holiday snap, an inquest heard yesterday.

A GRANDMOTHER was left fighting for her life after slipping from the top step of a tourist bus while taking a holiday snap, an inquest heard yesterday.

Margaret Brown, 61, of Glanmor Road, Llanelli, cracked her head on a roadside in a freak accident while on a tour to Belgium.

She lay in a coma in hospital for eight days and died with her husband Bill and son Leslie at her bedside, never having regained consciousness.

Llanelli coroner John Owen recorded a verdict of accidental death and described the accident as a tragedy.

Mrs Brown had been on a sighting seeing trip in the medieval town of Bruges on May 17 this year when the fatal fall occurred.

She was with a large party of regulars from several pubs in the Llanelli area on the brief bus tour to Belgium.

The party were due to travel on to the Channel port of Ostend and complete their trip with a two-night stay there.

Coroner's officer Pc David Williams told the inquest the party had been taken to visit several hypermarkets before the fatal fall. Mrs Brown had been taking photographs from the top steps of the bus while waiting for stragglers to return from a breakfast stop.

"Mrs Brown unexpectedly tripped and fell backwards four feet landing on the back of her head outside the bus," Pc Williams said.

He added that a couple who had witnessed the fall had described it as a freak accident.

An investigation concluded there were no suspicious circumstances.

A post-mortem examination was later carried out in Wales and found cuts to Mrs Brown's scalp but no skull fracture. It also revealed she had suffered an acute brain haemorrhage.

The coroner said, "This was a complete accident which had tragic consequences for Mrs Brown who was otherwise completely healthy."